Seeing Things
by Oneirogenic
Summary: One night, Hikari is in bed, when she begins to feel a threatening presence. TaichiHikari sibling fluff.


_Just a fic idea that came to me, after thinking about Hikari one night. She's always struck me as one who can see spirits. And Taichi/Hikari sibling fluff is just adorable. Hikari's experiences with spirits here are mostly based off of my own, as well as a friends. I really enjoyed writing this. _

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She couldn't help but shudder as the dark figure passed over her bed, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Go away...please...go away," Hikari whispered softly, pulling the light pink blanket over her nose and mouth so only her eyes were showing among the pillows and plushies on her bed. When it didn't listen, she spoke louder, trying to scare it off.

"Go away, now. Please, you don't need to be here, so leave!" Her words had sounded more frightened than she would have liked, but the shadow seemed to understand them, at least partially. It got a bit smaller, and then grew, as it made its way to the other side of her room, settling in a corner, seeming to watch her.

She sat, staring at the spirit for a good minute, then closed her eyes, just hoping that it would just get bored after awhile and leave. They did that, unless they wanted you to be afraid.

Hikari had seen spirits for as long as she could remember. A strange man in the house, when she was about three or four, was one she remembered best. Sadao, that was the name he had told her, hadn't surprised her at all when she first met him. He had seemed very relieved when she started talking to him one day, as though he were just another man. He didn't say much, but she remembered that she had always known he wasn't human, but hadn't questioned it. She knew some things about him that he may or may not have told her: he had a daughter when he was alive, just like Hikari, and he died in the apartment above theirs. Hikari really wasn't phased when she found out he was dead. But, of course, Hikari's family had never believed her about Sadao. Or about any of the other spirits she had seen.

Taichi had only started to believe her when she told him that one particular spirit had moved his soccer cleats up to the highest shelf in their closet--a place she couldn't have reached if she wanted to. At first, he was skeptical about the whole thing, but after awhile, he just got used to her talking to no-one in particular, and getting scared of seemingly nothing at all. Plus, the fact that he sometimes got the feeling that something was watching him, only to have Hikari suddenly announce there was something standing in the corner was proof enough that his sister was _not _just seeing things.

Unfortunately, Taichi wasn't in the top bunk anymore. Hikari had her own room now, and sometimes things got to be too much for her to bear. She opened her eyes, knowing that the thing in her room wasn't leaving. She was startled to find that it had inched its way closer, and was now in the middle of her floor.

"Go away now." She spoke slowly, her voice gaining volume with each word. She was beginning to get frightened again, and the spirit wasn't backing down. It grew bigger, doubling in size and strength, and moved up to her ceiling, just sort of looming above her, seeming to stare down.

She shuddered, glaring at it, the frightened feeling not leaving, although she knew she had no reason to fear it. It couldn't hurt her physically, only threaten her, giving off negative emotions from its void-like body.

"Go away. You don't scare me, and you can't hurt me, _so go away_."

It seemed to laugh at her, not wanting to stop its cruel game. It had found someone to bother, that could see it, even, and it wasn't going to give up until it was bored with her.

"Go away. Come on, you don't need to be here, and you aren't scaring me, so just go on your way. I'm not afraid of you," Hikari said, looking right at it, feigning fearlessness. She gave a small sigh, biting her lip. This happened from time to time. Some spirits seem to think it's fun, messing with people like this. If it weren't so intent on scaring her, she probably could have chased it off by now, but this had been one of the stronger, meaner sprits encountered in awhile. It gave off a mocking, horribly negative vibe that made Hikari's courage drain away little by little.

"You're just wasting your time. I'm...I'm not afraid of you," she said loudly, more trying to convince herself, than to get it to leave.

It just moved around a bit, giving off the feeling that it knew she was afraid, and was enjoying tormenting her.

"Please, just go away." Hikari closed her eyes, almost begging it to just leave her alone.

Without any notice, she suddenly felt it surrounding her, trying to force itself into her, and smother her. She let out a pained scream, tearing herself away from the sheets and blankets, and burst from her door, stopping in the hallway to sink to the floor, quivering. She had shaken it off easily enough, but it had left her feeling weak and vulnerable, her insides burning and shivering with fear.

"Hikari...!" Taichi's door flung open, and he looked down to see her sitting there, hunched up on the floor, against the wall. He sunk down to his knees, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her shaking form close.

She couldn't speak, only letting out a little whimper to acknowledge him.

"Hikari...what's wrong...are you hurt?" He pulled away for a minute to look at her, the only damage seeming to be the helpless look on her face. When she shook her head finally, he let out a relieved breath, pulling her close again.

Hikari seemed to relax in her brother's arms, her violent shuddering subsiding, and turning to a weak shiver.

"Hikari...? Taichi, is that you?" Their mother's voice came from the farther doorway, her concerned face peeking out from the bedroom.

Taichi spoke in a serious tone, looking over at her. "It's okay Mom, Hikari just had a bad dream. Don't worry."

Their mother just nodded and closed the door, leaving the two of them alone once more.

"God...you're freezing..." Taichi mumbled softly, turning his attention back to his sister, who had lain there in his arms, not saying anything. He petted her cheek softly, pressing his fingers into it. His other arm gripped her firmly, as though he were afraid she'd disappear if he let go to soon. "What happened? Was it..." he trailed off, just pressing his forehead against her soft, mousy hair.

She just nodded, the tears starting to flow freely from her red-brown eyes.

Taichi kissed her clammy forehead, pulling her closer, stroking her back softly, his fingers against the soft fabric of her pajamas. "I thought they left..."

"They don't just leave. I don't know why this one decided to..." Hikari didn't finish her sentence, and just buried her face in Taichi's shoulder, not wanting to alarm him.

He didn't let her off so easily, pulling away a bit to look into her eyes. "Decided to what?"

Hikari sighed, her lip quivering. She didn't want to say anything, but didn't feel convincing enough to lie to him. "It decided to attack me."

Taichi was visibly shaken by this. He tightened his grip around her, almost hurting her. "God...I..."

Nuzzling Taichi's shoulder, she spoke softly, "Please don't worry. They can't hurt me, just scare me a little."

Taichi frowned, not convinced. "Scare you a little? Hikari, people don't scream when they're just a little scared."

She pulled away a bit to wrap her arms around him. "You're worrying about me."

Taichi let out a short laugh, petting her again. "I can't help it. I was afraid you were hurt or scared or something...afraid you were..."

She smiled a little, drawing back her arms so she could curl up in his embrace again. "Being attacked?" she said softly, a bit of humor in her voice.

He let out a small groan, squeezing her. "Yeah, well..." he trailed off, sighing loudly. When he spoke again, his voice was tinged with concern. "Seriously, though...why have you been seeing them more lately?"

"I don't know," Hikari whispered, closing her eyes. "I stopped seeing and feeling things for awhile...but after things went back to normal...it was like I opened up again. I was like how I was when I was younger. It was like things started going away little by little as I got older..."

Taichi pressed his lips to her forehead again, then spoke. "And then they came back." He let out a humorless chuckle, petting her back again. "I thought you were turning normal, for awhile. No ghosts, no weird feelings... Hell, you stopped reading my mind."

Hikari just smiled, giggling a little. "I don't know. I was distracted with life, with my last few years of elementary school. I guess I was able to ignore most of it."

Taichi rolled his eyes. "That's a bad thing?"

Frowning, Hikari hung her head a bit. "It makes me feel immature, I guess. I don't know, I just feel sort of different now."

"You're growing up, Hikari, of course you're going to feel different."

Hikari sighed, leaning into Taichi. "I feel more open. Like when I was eight or nine. I'm starting to feel more again, and it's sort of scaring me."

"I...don't know what to say..." Taichi muttered softly, feeling vaguely ashamed that he couldn't help her. "I don't feel stuff like you do...vibes and all that empathy stuff... I can hardly tell when someone's pissed at me."

Squirming so she could get closer to him, Hikari let out another sigh. "It's not a big deal, Taichi, please don't worry about it. I'm sort of glad it came back."

"You are?"

She nodded, thinking a moment before she spoke. "It makes me feel..." she paused, choosing her words, "wiser. More understanding, I suppose. Less caught up with physical things."

Taichi grinned, hugging her tightly. "I guess. I don't really get how you pick up on stuff like that, though. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Hikari just closed her eyes, nodding. She breathed deeply, burying her face in Taichi's shirt, clinging to him gently. She began to realize how tired she felt, just wanting to fall asleep right there, with her brother's arms around her.

They lay there, against the wall, for a good while, just clinging to each other loosely, neither really wanting to go back to their own rooms. At last, Taichi stood, picking up Hikari's light frame, her arms draped about his neck, and began walking toward her bedroom, reluctant to leave her alone. He pushed the door open with a foot, looking inside for any sort of danger that might still be lurking.

Hikari stirred a bit, not quite asleep yet, and tightened her grip around his neck. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" she mumbled softly, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

Taichi just smiled and turned away from her bedroom, carrying her into his own room, and pulling his door shut behind him.


End file.
